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Zynga decides against real-money gaming in the US, but will keep testing casino games in the UK

Zyngaconfirmed today in its second quarter earnings announcement that it will not pursue a license for real-money gaming in the US.

In April, the company launched ZyngaPlusPoker and ZyngaPlusCasino real-money games in the UK in partnership with Bwin.party. At the time, reports emerged that Zynga had applied for a license to provide real-money poker in the state of Nevada. It’s not clear what happened with the application, but Zynga says it will instead focus on free games.

Zynga believes its biggest opportunity is to focus on free to play social games. While the Company continues to evaluate its real money gaming products in the United Kingdom test, Zynga is making the focused choice not to pursue a license for real money gaming in the United States. Zynga will continue to evaluate all of its priorities against the growing market opportunity in free, social gaming, including social casino offerings.

Zynga’s second quarter performance was not stellar. It posted a net loss of $15.8 million and revenue was down 31 percent year over year to $231 million. After-hours trading pushed Zynga shares down over 12 percent, erasing the stock’s 6.71 percent gains from earlier in the day.

The company’s future is now in the hands of former Microsoft executive Don Mattrick, who took over as CEO earlier this month.